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BY CHARLES I). NORTON. 






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THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK: 



A PAPER 



READ BEFORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY CLUB, DECEMBER 14, 1803. 






BY CHARLES D. NORTON. 



The ferry which once had its landing place at the foot of the highway now called Fort 
street, is the oldest institution in this city, and it is proper that its history should be 
written, in part performance of that duty which this Society owes to the public From 
public documents and the laws of our Slate much of it has been collected, more of it 
from the testimony of early settlers on this part of the Niagara Frontier; and beyond 
the point to which their own recollection extends, they have furnished me with facts 
which were gathered from men who at a much earlier period found their way to the 
Niagara River. The old ferry was a crossing place at a period as early as the Revolu- 
tionary War, but whatever estimate may be placed upon the authority cited for this 
statement, the evidence of its existence in 1796 isclear and incontrovertible. By this 
crossing place many of the early settlers in Canada journeyed to their western homes, 
and over it the first emigrants into Michigan were carried on their pilgrimage to found 
a new State. The village of Black Rock is on historic ground, and so far as it. can he 
said of us that we. have a history, its most exciting events have transpired in that 
pari of our city. At the risk of a digression from my subject, let me refer to a few of 
them in a brief manner, more as a hint t>> others tor their collection ami preservation, 
than for the purpose of detailed narrative. On the high hill or bluff that overlooked 

the feny, old Fort A.dams, or Battery Swift, was situated. There is now in theoffii f 

the Niagara Street Wail Road (' pany, a box of halls, bullets, and other imple- 

iii' lit- of war, which were found under the soil in digging for the foundation of that 

building. The Maryland Gazette of December 22, 1763, < tains an account of a 

battle between a detachmenl of English soldiers, who were moving from fori Schlosser 
toward Detroit, and a body of Indians at tin' toot, of Lake Erie, and the skeletons 
of Indians arranged in the form of a circle, with their feel inward and placed against a 
huge iron kettle, ami their heads disposed outwardly and resting on hatchets, form 
big the circumference u( a circle, which were found by Colonel Bird in preparing the 
2 



10 THOMAS- BUFFALO CITY DIRECTORY. 

ground for his present residence, evidently the burial ground of [ndiaus killed in battle, 
afford presumptive evidence that this place was the scene of the engagement 

A skirmish between the American and British troops occurred at the junction of 
Sixth and Niagara streets, which resulted in the killing of Colonel Bishop, who com- 
manded the British party, and the same foray came near losing for us the ser- 
vices of General Porter, who barely escaped capture as the enemy passed up the 
road to attack Fort Adams. They marched toward the residence of the General, which 
was upon the site occupied by the old Thayer tavern, now the residence of Rev. Mr. 
Robie, and would have taken him prisoner had not his housekeeper discovered the 
advance guard, aroused him from sleep, and enabled him to escape, hall-clad, into 
the woods. Below this place, at the mouth of the Scoijoiquoides Creek, a pari of 
Commodore, Perry's fleet was fitted out under the superintendence of Henry Eckford, 
afterwards renowned at home, and abroad as a naval constructor; and near by upon the 
bank the battle of Black Rock was fought about the same period of time. While 1 am 
thus indulging in a ramble away from my subject, the opportunity shall be improved 
of submitting to this Society the task of discovering the true orthography of the name 
of this creek, whether it is Scoi-joi-quoi-des, Sca-ja-quada, Scajaquadies, Conjocketty, 
Conjecitors, Unnekugua, or Qnnekuguddies Creek, for 1 have found the name written in 
these various ways. It must not he forgotten that in Breckinridge street, near the old 
brick church, General Scott planted his cannon to cover the British armed vessels, which 
were in the stream prepared to attack the miniature but historical steamboat Caroline, 
on her passage up the river during the so-called Patriot War. ft will be seen thai 
ground about the old ferry and in its immediate vicinity is not devoid of historical 
interest. 

Captain James Sloan, a resident of Black Rock and a man of great intelligence 
and integrity, who has contributed largely to our local history in articles scattered 
through the columns of the city journals, visited the ferry in the year 1810. The 
held now occupied by the Niagara Street Rail Road buildings was then or had been an 
Indian field, for it was cleared and leveled, and on the south and east was hounded by 
a dense forest. 

This venerable gentleman, who recollects with accuracy and relates with precision his 
early adventures in the west, full of stirring incident and exploit, speaks with enthu- 
siasm of the view which opened to his sight when he stood for the first time upon this 
old Indian field. The majestic Niagara, with an unbroken expanse, bore its affluent 
flood to the cataract, between banks covered with primeval forest, indented with the 
scattered huts of the settlers on the Canada shore, and bearing on its tolerant bosom the 
wooded islands, which, in a bygone age, it had torn away from the protecting embrace of 
the main land. Under Fort Erie the British fleet, commanded by Commodore Barclay, 
was anchored, while a lew batteaux, laden with salt, were moving sluggishly up the stream. 
These batteaux constituted the commercial marine of the river, v rincipal business 

was the transportation of this commodity from Porter A', Barton's dock at old Fort 
Schlosser, to the warehouse at Black Bock, or to the wharf under the lee of Bird Island, 
to be conveyed thence to Erie, then the principal commercial port on our lake. Few- 
persons now living know anything of the history of the lake and river commerce from 
the vear 1805 to the commencement of the last war with Kugland. It consisted 



THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK. 11 

mainly in the transportation of salt between the places and over the route I have 
mentioned, to be conveyed to Pittsburgh. 

Four or five vessels, each carrying from L25 to 150 barrels of salt, owned by 1'orter, 
Barton & Co., were engaged in business on the river, the proprietors of the vessels 
residing at Black Rock and Syracuse. When the wind was blowing down the lake, the 
vessels running from Black Rock to Erie were frequently wind-bound al the former 
place, and the salt, would accumulate at Black Rock to the amount of 5,000 or 6,000 
barrels, which were piled in tiers upon the shore of the riser, under the hank, and 
remained stored in this way until they could be carried to Erie. 'Che Black Rock was 
the, great sail exchange, and the witnesses upon whose statements ! narrate these tacts 
say that il was not a rare occurrence for the Rock to be covered with traders from Pitts- 
burgh. Captains of vessels and boatmen also met there to talk aboul business and 
interchange views. The Black Rock was a sun of commercial centre for the salt mer- 
chants, and in those early days the old ferry tavern was .mite as distinguished on the 
frontier as the Fifth Avenue or St. Nicholas are in our time. 

Two roads led to the ferrj from the Main road to Batavia. The old Indian 
trail or path, which was the traveled way for the Indians going between the Genesee 
and Grand Rivers, diverged ai what was then known as the Four Mile Creek, and 
pursuing the present route of Bouck street, came upon the river bank at the present 
Fort street, while the oilier road, called the Guide Hoard Road from the old cross-board, 
pointing out its direction, crossed Main street and followed York street to St. Joseph's 
College, and ran southwesterly into Niagara street. St. Joseph's College forms an acute 
angle with North street, and does not front upon it. and the cause of this is seen at once 
in the former route of the Guide Board Road, which ran directly in front, of the 
building, and joined the present, Niagara street at the residence of F. C. Hill, long 
known as the old Callender place. Niagara street had been surveyed, and the trees 
to some extent cleared off, but for the most part, it was an impassable swamp, disa- 
greeable to travel, though it was rendered comfortable in a very slight degree, at a 
later period. h\ a corduroy road, which old residents will recollect The traveled 
road to BuiFalo was by way of the ferry under the bluff to the lake shore, and 
over the bro rd and level beach to the Terrace. Four or five years ago there 

lived at Windmill Point, in Canada, a very aged man by the name of Silas Carter. He 
had been a soldier in the American army during the Revolution, and while it was 
encamped at Morristown, he was in some capacity attached to the immediate family of 
Washington. He died at the age of an hundred years. Carter married at 75 years of 
age, and let's behind him three children of the marriage, who are now living and have 
families. He was well known to Captain Sl^an, who vouches for his intelligence and 

veracity. Carter told him that there was a crossing place al tl Id ferry during the 

Revolution, for he came into the countrj before that war closed, and that it was the 
only crossing place above the halls. He spoke of it as a ferry, though no legally 
established ferrj existed there until a later dale, [n L796 it was well known as a 
ferrj [n 1800 Augustus Porter, then of Canandaigua, had a contract 

with the government for carrying the mail to Fort Niagara, and he says that his route 
was from Canandaigua to the Black Rock Ferry, and then by way of the Canada shore to 
Fort Niagara General Timotln Hopkins, late of Williarosvillo, in this county, one.- 



12 THOMAS' BUFFALO CITY DIRECTORY. 

* 

said that he raised the first wheat on the Holland Purchase, in a field ten miles east of 
Clarence, and that he carried it in a wagon drawn by three yoke of oxen, over the ferry 
at Black Rock to Street's Mills at the Falls, and he complained of the charge for 
ferriage, which was twenty shillings each way. 

Dr. Dwight, once President of Yale College, mentions the ferry in his "Journey 
through the State of New York," in 1804, and says that he "crossed it without incon- 
venience, though with much fatigue to the boatmen." A writer in the Port Folio, a 
literary periodical published in Now York in 1S10, in his account of a "Ride to 
Niagara," says that he came to Millar's Ferry along the bank of the lake, and notices 
the old route " by way of Bouck street as a short way to the ferry, if there be no 
object in going to Buffalo." The. narrative proceeds: "The stone which bounds the 
river here is a mass of black chert. I arrived about 12 o'clock, m. ; the ice was so thick 
in the River Niagara that it was impossible to cross until 3 o'clock, p. m. There wen- 
three wagons of emigrants waiting to cross the British side from Scoharie, in New York 
State, and Buffaloe, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania; they were chief!} 
Germans. They expected about 200 acres of laud to cost them $50. I understand 
the British Government sell it at $40 per 200 acres. The crossing here is three-quarters 
of a mile wide ; half-a-dollar for man and horse. They catch abundance of fish with a 
seine; the family were dining on pickerel and salmon trout, each four pounds weight." 
The importance of the ferry, and the large business done there in the early part of this 
century is established by these statements. 

The business at the ferry, and the peculiar advantages of the vicinage as a site for 
a village or town, alarmed Joseph Ellicott, for in 1802 he wrote to Paul Busii, 
General Agent of the Holland Land Company, saying that "the State at the last 
Legislature had passed an act providing for the purchase of the Indian possessory 
right to these lands," the southern part of which reached New Amsterdam, and adding 
"there is a situation on the lands equal to or better than that of N. A. for a town, so 
that if the State offers the land for sale this summer, before N. A. gets into operation, 
much of time will be lost to the future prosperity of the place." New Amsterdam 
was the name of the Buffalo Creek Settlement, and tin' southern extremity of the 
Indian lands of which bespeaks was a point in the late south village of Black Rock, 
which, it will be remembered, once comprehended all that part of the old city situ- 
ated between the State Reservation Line and the Niagara River; this line intersects the 
river at, tin.' foot of Genesee street. Reference will be made to documentary and other 
evidence in support of the antiquity of this crossing place, but let us now dispose of the 
Canada landing place. This landing place was always at the. present site, and the 
earliest name I can find among the ferry men is that of Gilmore. He was a man of 
good family, who had fled from Pennsylvania into Canada to escape punishment for 
a political riot or fight in which he became, involved. Captain Sloan knew him 
sixty years ago, when he lived on the Monongahela River, and says that he was a highly 
respectable man, and amassed property in Canada, owning a farm at Waterloo, but that 
his houses and barns were burned during the war, and Gilmore returned to Pennsylvania. 
Windnecker or decker was ferryman for ;( time there, and then Hardison, and perhaps 
some of you may know his widow, an aged woman who resides at Fort Erie. The 
ferry afterwards passed into the hands of Mr. Warren and Colonel Kirby, the latter 



THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK. \',\ 



of whom was a notorious character on this frontier during the war, and up to the time of 
his death, made it his business toprotecl bis Britannic Majesty's rights, and see to it that 
they were not trenched upon by the Democrats over the river. Upon our side one 
Con. O'Niel was the ferryman at a very early day. living by the Black Rock in a hut 
which was at once his ferry house and home. In the year 1800 there was a tolerable 
road over the site of the present Fort street, leading to the river margin over a flat or 
plateau of land, about 'Jot) feet in width. Upon the northern extremity of this plateau 
there was a black rock, in shape an irregular triangle, projecting into the river, having 
a breadth of about 100 feet at the north end, extending southward and along the 
river for the distance of 300 feet, and gradually inclining to the southeast until it was 
lost in tin/ sand. Tin- rock was four or live feet high, and square at it- northern ex- 
tremity, so that an eddy was formed there into which the. ferry boat could he brought, 
and moored beyond the influence of the current. From this rock teams were driven 
into the boat over a connecting lip or bridge. The natural barbor thus formed was 
alna>si perfect, and could not have been made by the, appliances of art a more complete 
dock or landing place. In fact no other pari of our river or shore above the halls 
afforded such facility for a crossing place. The river was narrow at this point, and the 
landing safe, and these facts create a presumption in favor of the statement that it was 
the ancient and common point, for crossing the river. 

This rock was well known, and had lone- been a fishing ground for the Indian-. 
It is said that the herring came to the rock in such numbers that a barrel full of 
them was thrown on it with three casts of a large net. Near the rock and south of 
it, upon the river margin, was a plain or field, which was used by the Indians when 
they held their sports or practiced then- games, while the wooded height above afforded 
to them a kitchen and dormitory. In a few years quite a hamlel grew up around tie' 
Blacli Rock, hut it was not. until the. year L 8 1 or 1811 that any buildings were 
erected on the site of the present village. When Mr. Lester Brace visited the rock in 
L807, there were no buildings in the vicinity except the Porter & Barton warehouse, 
at the foot of Breckinridge street, and a house which Nathaniel Sill had built on 
Auburn street; there was a log hut on the site of Albany street. The place wa- 
called the Black Rock Ferry from the rock, of which some description has been givens 
It was not alone a conspicuous mark on the river, but a well established business 
point, at which the crossing place or ferry had been for in;ui\ years, and it gave its 
name to the ferry and the hamlet which afterwards sprung up at that place, not a trace 
of w hich now exists. 

In 18o2 the Legislature passed an act providing for the negotiation of a treaty 
with the Seneca Indians, the object of which was the extinguishment of the Indian title 
to the mile strip reservation on the Niagara River. This act recognizes the existenceof 
the ferry, for it provided that the treaty to he negotiated should not prejudice the 
right of the people of the State of New York to tin- fcrrj across the Niagara 
River. To this act Mr. Ellicotl refers in his letter to Mr. Busti, in which he expresses 
some apprehension that the future town would he located at Black Rock. This pro- 
vision of the act implies, by fair construction, an existing and prescriptive right vested 
in the people of the State of New York to a ferry at Black Rock, and to have created 
that right, twenty years previous and continued existence would have been necessary, 



14 THOMAS' BUFFALO CITY DIRECTORY. 

and if the right was thus recognized by the State, it will corroborate Silas Carter's state- 
ment that the ferry existed during the Revolutionary War. 

By the treaty of 1802, made v ith the [ndiaus under this act, the right of the Indians 
to use a crossing place al Black Rock is fully p !, and the tract of land bordering 

»>n the river, one mile wide, running from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is ceded to the 
State. The firsl statutory provision affecting the ferry, authorized the Commissioners 
of Land office to lease the ferry, with one hundred acres of land, on such terms as they 
might deem proper, for the period of eighl years, reserving the right of the Indians in 
accordance with the treaty. This statute dors not refer to the hundred acres now known 
as the Ferry lot, on the south sideof \\ : ent ferry is established, forthis tract is 

north of the old ferry a quarter of a mile or more, and was conveyed in 1815 to 
General Peter B. Porter, to whom it was offered as a gift, but he refused to accept the 
title without making compensation to the State. 

I have noticed for sometime past that the stone monument which denotes the south 
line of the Ferry lot, upon the easterly line of Niagara street, is misplaced, and 
lies upon the street; it could not, without difficulty, be replaced; a survey, I suppose, 
would be necessary, but it should be replaced at once, to save future trouble in estab- 
lishing the course of that line. In 1806 the ferry was leased or directed to be leased 
to Alexander Rea, but 1 cannot find that he ever availed himself of his privilege? 
for Major Frederick Miller appeals to have taken possession of the ferry in that year, 
and retained it until IS 1 2. During the interval the business of the ferry was 
steadily growing, for there was an emigration to Canada that increased up to the 
commencement of the war. The rivalry between the proprietors of the Holland Pur- 
chase, or, rather, between their agents and the proprietors of the Canada lands, was 
\ igorously conducted, and the representations of the latter to the prejudice of the Holland 
Purchase succeeded in turning considerable emigration across the river. In 1812 Mr. 
Orange Brace became lessee of the ferry, but that was an exceedingly dull year; very 
little business was done on the frontier after war was declared. 

It has been mentioned that Mr. Lester Brace visited the ferry in 1^07. It will be 
unnecessary to say more of him than he was a son of Orange Brace, one of those hardy 
and resolute men who came to Western New York from New England in 1790, and to 
show that he was a man eminently fitted to be a, pioneer of civilization in the West, it 
will be sufficient to say that in December, 1790, he returned to Connecticut on foot, 
with Judge Augustus Porter, and traveled a portion of the journey on snow shoes. 
Mr. Lester Brace left Bennington, in what is now Wyoming County, with an ox team 
and wagon, to visit the frontier on business, and crossing the Indian Reservation, 
his party were overtaken in the woods by a severe snow storm, which drove them 
under their wagon for shelter, and compelled them to remain there all night, Pur- 
suing their journey, they reached Landon's Tavern, now the Mansion House, and 
turning into Commercial street, traveled by way of the creek and the lake beach, to 
Major Miller's Tavern at- the old ferry. it was tilled with sailors and river boatmen, 
who were holding high revel when Mr. Brace arrived, and the landlord, unable, to keep 
them in order by gentle means, was administering such justice as each case required, 
and as the habits and manners of frontiermen amply justified. In the general melee 



THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK. 15 

Mr. Brace's friends fled, seeking other quarters, and be p of a whiskey 

barrel in one corner of the room, on which he remained until mornii 

At this time there was at the ferry a bouse and tavern, with other buildings, 
making a promising settlement. There were no other houses al Black Rock, except a 
hut near the hrook at Albany street, and the Porter, Barton & Co. warehouse, and the 
residence of Nathaniel SilL Of this brook I shall lie glad to preserve a memorial; 
it was a pretty stream coming from the forest, meandering between wooded hanks, and 
at Niagara street it rushed over a broken ledge of rocks in mimic falls, an. I poured its 
crystal water into the ungrateful Niagara. A few year- ago this laughing stream was 
turned into a sewer, and now mingles its turbid and muddy waters with the Erie 
Canal. 

Major Miller's lease for an unexpired term of two years was transferred to Orano-e 
Dean and Holden Allen, the latter of whom raised a family of stalwart bo} s, w ho became 
sailors and lake captains, and Captain Levi Allen of this city, with two of his brothers, 
are survivors of this family. Doubtless there are many facts which have escaped my 
observation that would have rendered this history more interesting. The nun who 
lived upon the frontier at that time possessed many admirable qualities ; they were hold, 
accustomed to danger, self-reliant, fertile in resources, and full of that rude energy which 
clears up forests, lays the foundation of towns, and makes way for that more refined 
civilization which, if it has more of the grace of life, has less real energy and practical 
sense. It is certainly desirable that sketches of these men should he preserved, for the 
early history of Western New York i.- found in the narrative oi the enterprise, the thrift 
and industry, and the personal sacrifices of the earl} rs. In 1812 the State resumed 

charge of the old ferry, and by an act of that year directed the leasing of it by the 
commissioners of the laud office, reserving the indian rights as provided by the treaty. 
I dismiss the Indians with the remark that this right of tree ferriage was reserved 
to them in all the leases, and I have found no law which deprives them of their ancient 
privilege. 

The war cloud began to lower over the border, and the frontier men heard the 
sound of approaching conflict. The business at the old ferry had been steadily increas- 
ing, hut entire! d at the commencement of actual hostilities. The emigration 
into Canada had been considerabL ; the large four horse wagons, with their singular 
loads, were> ' visitors at the ferry; there had been frequenl crossing to deal at 
Dongas's store, at hoi-;. Erie, at which place the set hi their glass and nails, and 
<>n the whole the ferrymen at the Black Rock had been greatly benefited, and were 
rejoicing in grow ing profit , 

tore or grocery hail been established ; there \ ;r shops at the Rock, and 

among others who had found their way to the place was Mr. E. I). Efner, to whom von 
will need no duction. General Sylvester Mathews, who was a well known man 

here twenty-five years ago, and Loren Hodge and his father, resided once at the old 
ferry. Fifty years have passed, and the mutal rthly tL forcible 

illustration in the changes al this place. The canal has obliterated the famous black 
rock, the rail road runs over the sit.' of the old ferry house and tavern, and the pier cuts 
in twain the river which once unfolded it.s regal amplitude between the opposing shores; 
Squaw Island, once heavily wooded and tilled with game, denuded of its forest glories, 



[Q THOMAS' BUFFALO CITY DIRECTORY. 



spreads upon the river a patch of unsightly meadow and swamp land; Bird Island has 
quite gone out of sight; old Fort Erie is a mouldering ruin; and the only improvement 
upon the scene is the flourishing commercial city to whose local history this contribution 
is made. 

This paper shall be closed before the time is entirely exhausted, by recounting the 
further history of the old ferry from the memoranda of Mr. Lester Brace. In 1813, 
to use an expression then prevalent, "the line- were opened," which means that it had 
become sale for Americans to venture upon business along the river, and Mr. Brace and 
Mr. St. John, who is represented in this city by numerous descendants, thought that 
something could be done with the ferry. They bought Hardison's boats, and resumed 
the. business of carriers between Canada and the Black Rock. The business was inaugu- 
rated bj a sad catastrophe which awakened the sympathy of the whole settlement at 
Buffalo and the Black Bock. On the 6th of June, L813, a clear cold morning, with the 
ice running in the river, Mr. Brace, with Mr. Si. John, to whom the management of the 
boat was entrusted as the more skillful navigator, started from the rock to cross the 
river. The boat was a scow of about ten tons burthen, propelled by sweeps handled by 
two or four men, andsteered by another long sweep a< thestern. The route was directly 
across the stream, and then the ferryman dropped down to the wharf ', at the present 
ferry landing. At times this was difficult to accomplish, particularly when ice was 
running in the river, and the boat was often carried down to a point near or opposite 
Squaw island, which obliged the boatmen to cross and pole up the river to the Black 
Rock, a laborious and very wearisome task. Two or three of Commodore Perry's 
vessels, which had been fitted out by Henry Eckford at the mouth of the Scoijoiquoidies 
Creek, had made an attempt to get up the Niagara into the lake, to join the squadron, 
but were obliged to casi anchor in the very path of the ferry boat. The ferryman had 
been advised that it was venturesome to attempt to go above the vessels in order to 
reach the Canada landing, but Mr. St. John, relying on his skill as a boatman and his 
knowledge of the river, supposed that he could accomplish it without collision. He 
had not overrated his knowledge or his skill, but an unforeseen danger presented itself, 
which was discovered too late to be avoided. The ferry boat would have cleared the 
foremost vessel, but it was driven upon the cable which held her at anchor, and the 
play of the cable as it undulated with the motion of the vessel, upset the ferry boat and 
turned the whole party into the river. The boats of the ship nearest them had gone 
to Buffalo Creek, and the party, which consisted of Mr. Brace and Mr. St. John and his 
son. four soldiers, and four other passengers, one of them having a horse with him, 
were in imminent danger of drowning. Mr. St. John went down, but rose again, and 
spoke encouraging words to Mr. Brace, putting his hands on his shoulder at the same 
time, but suddenly sunk and was drowned ; his son, a tine athletic young man, had 
nearly reached shallow water when he disappeared, and Mr. Brace grasped a board, by 
means of which his life was saved. There was another incident which is worthy of 
preservation. One day there came to the ferry a number of villagers from Buffalo, who 
desired to cross to Canada. Dr. Josiah Trowbridge and Mr. Bemis were of the 
company. It was a cold December day, and Mr. Brace was averse to crossing, for he was 
unwell, and there had been rumors which, if true, rendered a visit to the other side 
somewhat hazardous. Dr. Trowbridge was quite urgent, however, for his business on 



THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK. 17 

the Canada shore was impelled by the same motive which induced Leander to swim 
the Hellespont Mr. Brace saw the white flag flying on the Canada side, and after 
some hesitation, consented to allow his brother-in-law, Arden Merrill, to take his place 
in the boat and ferry the travelers to the other shore. As the ferryboat approached 
the Canada landing, two or three sleighs filled with men were approaching from below, 
but the matter excited neither suspicion nor alarm. The passengers had hardly 
landed when they were seized as prisoners, with tin' exception of Dr. Trowbridge 
and Mr. Pomeroy, who escaped to the woods. The British party then tired into the 
boat, which had moved from the shore into the riser. Merrill, the brother-in-law of 
Mr. Brace, was killed; his body, stripped of hoots and watch, was afterwards recovered 
by a flag of truce. One of the passengers was never afterwards heard of; another was 
carried away as a prisoner, and subsequently released at Halifax. 

Dr. Trowbridge and his companions found their way to Baxter's, six miles above 
the ferry, and there seized upon a boat against the remonstrance of the proprietor, who 
was not disposed to aid their escape, and got safely hack to Buffalo Creek. This was a 
mosl unprovoked and unjustifiable outrage, not the only one perpetrated by the enemy 
d urine that war. The people on the ferry boat had trusted to the white flag flying at 
the ferry landing, and had they crossed the river without that protection, there was no 
excuse for the firing, as they were unarmed and might have been taken prisoners without 

loss of life. 

The ferry was then discontinued and the boats sunk at the mouth of the Scoijoi- 
quoides Creek, from which they were taken by the British in one of their marauding 
excursions, and carried over to Canada. They were retaken by our army and used for 
government purposes, and Mr. Brace found them in possession of Major Barton, the 
United States Quartermaster, who refused to deliver them to him, alleging that the boats 
had been captured from the enemy and were the property of the government. Mr. 
Brace, not caring to dispute the quartermaster's law, paid $100 to get them again, 
and in 1815, on the declaration of peace, opened his tavern and resumed his ferry, and 
continued there until 1821. That he had been prospered in his business appears from 
the nett income of his tavern and ferry, which, in 1813, was $M,000. For a number of 
years it continued to yield a handsome revenue, larger, upon an average, than has since 
been derived fVi >] 1 1 the present ferry. 

Among the persons who boarded with Mr. Brace at the old ferry, was Captain .lames 
Rough, a Scotchman by birth and a mariner by profession. He was one of the earliest 
navigators of the western lakes, and had been in the employ of John Jacob Astorwhen 
he had a fur trading house ai Mackinac. He died at Black [lock at an advanced age, 
and is buried in the old Guide Hoard Road Cemetery. His friend, Major Donald 
Fraser, placed at the head of his grave a small willow, which has grown to be a large 
tree, and the inscription on his tombstone closes with the following lines: 

Here, moored beneath this willow tree, 
Lies honor, worth, and integrity. 
More I might add, but 'tis enough; 
They concentered all in bonesl Rn 

Willi BUCh .'is lie, 

U here'er he be, 
Mr, I be -aved 

"r <!— d. 

3 



18 THOMAS' BUFFALO CITY DIRECTORY. 

In 1821 the ferry was transferred to A.sa Stannard, the father of a race of sons, some 
of whom became identified with our lake marine, and were well known to the do 
merchants of an early day. The present Member of Assembly from the First District 
is a son of Asa Stannard. 

In 1S2'_ ; or L824 the old ferry ceased to exist; the acl of authorizing the lease to 
Stannard provides that "if the ferry is injured by the construction of the Great "Western 
Canal," Stannard should be compensated for improvements but not for loss of profits. 
The same, act gave Stannard an extension of the lease if he would build a horse boatfor 
purposes of ferriage. Mr. Stannard did not build the boat to be propelled by horse 
power, which the act of the Legislature contemplated, but continued to use the scow 
rowed by four men with two oars, and to cross at the old place until the construction of 
the canal rendered it necessary to remove the ferrj to another point. 

In 1824 the old ferry, for so long a time a place of such importance, and 
which had already assumed the appearance of a village, was deserted. The great rock, 
a land mark known to all the settlers on this part of the Holland Purchase, and to 
all travelers on the river, was blown up, the old road was neglected and became im- 
passable, the houses gradually fell into ruin, and to-day there is nothing on the spot to 
indicate its former existence 

The ferry was removed to a point of land at the foot of what is now Ferry stt 
on the south line of the ferry lot, and in 1826 Donald Fraser and Lester Brace became 
the lessees, 'nut the rapid march of invention and improvement rendered it necessary 
that the old scow ferry boat should give way to more rapid method of propulsion, and 
Brace and Fraser were bound to put upon the fiver, within one year, a steam or horse 
boat. 

[f it were' within the scope of my subject, it would be a pleasant dun to give some 
reminiscence of Donald Fraser; he had witnessed different vicissitudes of fortune, and 
had survived them all without losing that exuberant good nature which was a remark- 
able quality in his character. From early youth he was a courageous and gallant 
soldier; he had been aid to General Pike at the siege and conquest of Little York, (now 
Toronto,) and was with him when he fell on that memorable occasion. In the same 
capacity be had served under General Winder when the latter was taken prisoner during 
the last war with Great Britain; and at the sortie of Fort Erie as aid to General Porter, 
his o-allantry and soldierly conduct received the most flattering notice in the despatches 
of the General to the Commander-in-Chief. Major Fraser was afterwards on the stall 
of General Brown, after which he served at Fort Niagara, and at a later period acted as 
Secretary to General 1'orter while he was engaged as Commissioner in surveying and 
establishing the northern boundary between the United States and Canada, under 
the treaty of Ghent, lie was a Scotchman, the member of a celebrated clan, and 
full of genial and generous feeling toward all mankind. His ferry house and store 
was a museum of curiosities. At the door the public were informed that "Folks 
were married here,' 1 and the house was filled with articles, the most of which 
were unsaleable, presenting a ludicrous yet remarkable collection of odd things: 
in the strictest sense of the word it was a curiosity shop. The residents of thirt) 
years a<> - will recollect his sleigh rides, in a bark canoe mounted on runners, with a 

fed deer standing at the prow, and ten or tw< ten habited in Indian cos! e 



THE OLD FERRY AT THE BLACK ROCK. 1!) 



paddling furiously as they dashed through the streets al the full sp 1 of four horses, 

ridden by four impromptu savages. After the death of Captain Rough, Major Fraser 
disguised himself, and calling upon the prominent citizens of the village, represented 
himself to be the sole heir of the deceased, just arrived from Scotland. He was so 
successfully disguised in every respect, and his claims were apparently so well founded 
and sustained, that no question was made aboul his taking possession of the estate, 
which was considerable, and his friends and acquaintances recognized him as the heir 
of Captain Rough, and the owner of his late estate. A paper might be filled with 
reminiscences of this singular man, but spare can only be allowed to say that after 
his removal from Black Rock he was in the army as quartermaster, and died a lev, 
years ago an officer al the New YorkCustom House. Messrs. Brace and Fraser placed 
a horse boal on the river, Mr. Brace making the journey to Albany to ascertain 
the merits of the novel invention which the Legislature required the ferry lessees to 
adopt, and he brought hack (he machinery for his boat. It was nothing more than a 
wheel upon a horizontal plane, resting on the main shaft, which it propelled by means 
of cogs playing into cogs upon the shaft ; four horses treacling the wheel being the pro- 
pelling power. Itwasagreat invention for that time, and wasthesecond boat of the kind 
ever used in this country. 

In 1840 James Haggarl became the lessee of the ferry and the successor of Brace and 
Fraser, and placed a steam ferry boal on the river, in accordance with the provisions of 
an act of the Legislature granting to him the right to maintain a ferry. Judge Bull, 
of Black Rock, became a part owner of the ferry, and now ov, nsthe laud on the American 
shore opposite the ferry landing. The rent was $200 per year, payable to the Common 
School Fund of Black Bock; in 18.5:5 the State granted to the City of Buffalo 
exclusive' power overall ferries within its limits, with the right to license and regulate the 
same. 

An apology is '\\\<- to you for this paper upon a subject so dry and uninteresting, 
but as the history of our city will necessarily require some mention of the old 
ferry, it is not beyond the province of the Historical Societ) to gather and preserve 
the fragments contained in this attempt to trace its origin and history. With 
this paper 1 present to the Historical Society a map of the locality of which it 

is an imperfect, record, prepared by Mi'. Henry Lovejo; fr an actual survey, and from 

his own recollection of the old ferry at the Black Bock, [t will form an interesting 
and valuable memorial of a part of our city which, hut for his industrious and generous 
effort, would have found no memorial of its pristine importance. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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